Agent drops en bloc for Clementi Park

When it tried to go en bloc four years ago, Clementi Park failed to get 50 per cent of its residents’ vote.

This time round, its marketing agent Knight Frank withdrew from the collective sale exercise.

In the minutes of a recent meeting – which was obtained by Media-Corp – the company said it did not have the “confidence” that it could get 80 per cent of the condominium’s owners to agree to a collective sale. This was based on a survey in which 382 out of 489 owners took part.

The firm noted that “a good number” of owners did not wish to sell their apartments which are located on one million sq ft of undulating freehold land. Also, it was difficult to get owners of the 28-year-old property to agree to “one method of apportionment” because of the diversity of share values and strata area.

As for whether the 80 per cent consensus could be achieved if the reserve price was increased from $1.25 billion to $1.4 billion, Knight Frank’s opinion was that “under the current market conditions, it would be challenging”.

But it is not a case of price as the market is “buoyant”, according to Suntec Chesterton International’s head of research and consultancy Colin Tan. Rather, “these owners don’t want to sell, and Knight Frank, sensing their stubbornness, decided to pull out,” he said.

The collective sale committee (CSC), at its final meeting on June 8 had considered appointing another marketing agent.

But most members concluded that based on “current market conditions and current ownership profile”, the result was likely to be same and it would be “futile” to do so.

The sale exercise was aborted and the CSC was terminated.

Clementi Park resident Robert Bacsafra, for one, is disappointed with the outcome. He said he would have got between $2.5 to $3 million for his unit.